Artist Talk with Margaret Roleke
Artist Talk with Margaret Roleke
Sunday, April 12 at 2 pm
State of Alarm: Margaret Roleke on view: March 27 - May 10, 2026
Located in The Workshop Gallery, Building 3.
Artist Talk: Sunday, April 12 at 2 pm
Regular Gallery Hours from 12-4 pm on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. Free on-site parking available. 493 West Main Street, Building 3, Cheshire, CT.
State of Alarm brings together textile works, wall reliefs, and cyanotypes that confront the persistent climate of gun violence, war, and political instability shaping contemporary America. Through materials that carry both symbolic and physical weight—fabric, Kevlar, brass, and spent shotgun shells—the exhibition examines a nation caught between protection and threat, identity and fracture.
Textile pieces use stitching, layering, and fragmented national imagery to suggest both repair and rupture. Wall reliefs constructed from brass, shell components, and toy army men shimmer at a distance, drawing viewers in through visual seduction before revealing their origins. Cyanotypes introduce a quieter, ghosted presence—images that feel archival, exposed, or unsettled.
Rather than offering resolution, State of Alarm reflects the constant hum of anxiety embedded in daily life. The work asks viewers to consider how systems of power, weaponry, and nationalism are normalized—and how materials associated with harm might be transformed into spaces for reflection. Through accumulation, labor, and repetition, the exhibition creates a visual tension between beauty and violence, inviting a pause within the noise.
Learn more about the artist here.
Image features the work, Repair, by Margaret Roleke. Photo by the artist.
